Stubborn, determined and a strong competitive streak: traits that have won Fairhaven School teacher Dana Piggott a place at next week’s World Dragon Boat Championships in Germany.

Not only is Piggott part of the New Zealand Black Dragons senior A crew, she’s also the squad’s co-campaign manager.

To make things even better her husband, Baida Ali, his brother and his brother’s wife, are also in the squad.

While the main purpose of taking up the sport was to find another outlet to build on her sporting background and fitness, national honours quickly became a goal.

Piggott’s selection for the national crew at the 2025 championships comes after disappointment when she trialled for the last world championship squad two years ago.

“Two years ago was the first [world championship] campaign post-Covid, so that was my first real introduction to the New Zealand Black Dragons,” she said.

Although her trial was unsuccessful, it wasn’t fruitless.

“I wanted to find out what it was all about, this dragon boating world and I approached it as an opportunity to learn from some pretty incredible and experienced and talented athletes.”

What she did learn from being in that environment was what dragon boating was all about at the elite level. It set her up for two years of hard work, until the opportunity arose again.

“I’m a bit of stubborn, determined person with a strong competitive streak, so I guess I did go into this thinking I’ve got something that I can aim for.”

Piggott was also part of a Bay of Plenty Dragon Flyers crew that qualified for and competed at the world club championships in Italy last year, also with a managing role.

The experience gave her a taste of international competition from both points of view.

“It gave me a real eye opener into all aspects; into the people, the purpose behind why we do what we do and just meeting people at another level.

“I came back to New Zealand and found out it was the trials coming up and thought ‘I’m going to give this a shot’.”

Since the last national trial, she has focused on improving her own paddling technique and style with the help of the coaches at Bay of Plenty Dragon Flyers who, she said, have been a massive part of her journey.

But possibly even more important has been the environment.

“No matter what the age, it’s so inclusive of all age groups. Everyone is very supportive, and I love that, I love the community. Everyone’s positive and there’s something special about the DB community.

“It’s not just the inclusivity, it’s not just the support, but the whanaungatanga [kinship, family connection] is big.

She said one the key values of the Black Dragon’s campaign has been kotahitanga (unity).

“It’s all around, the people and how we do this together – it’s a combined journey.”

The Bay of Plenty Dragon Flyers competing. Photo / Supplied

Piggott took up the sport four years ago when she returned to New Zealand from overseas.

“I decided, when I moved back to the Bay of Plenty, which is home for me, I wanted to give dragon boating a go.”

She joined the Bay of Plenty Dragon Flyers crew based in Tauranga in a competitive mixed crew.

“I realised it was something I loved. I come from a sporting background – netball and touch rugby and I just decided I was going to get in a dragon boat and give something else a whirl.

“Getting out on Tauranga Moana was really something special for me and a really good opportunity just to, I guess with everything that happened with Covid and those changes, it was a perfect opportunity to reset and rebalance after everything and, more so, doing it out on the water.”

Piggott has previously competed in waka ama and said there were some challenges in the transition.

“Waka ama is a six-man crew and very streamlined and a light outrigger canoe and what I’ve always loved about it is the freedom. You’ve got the water on both sides; you can just stretch the body out.

“My hardest transition to dragon boating is there are up to 22 of you in a 200kg boat sitting on a bench with someone and sprinting on one side only. It’s taken me a long time to adjust to that.

“Because you are sitting so close together and trying to stabilise a boat, your timing, your balance the way that you blend, and your technique are all key components. I’ve had to really learn and understand that quite quickly.”

Piggott said there was a strange process involved in her selection of the national squad.

“Because I am also co-campaign manager, I was involved in the process up to a point.”

Ultimately, for transparency, she had to step back from that role temporarily.

“There were moments when it felt very strange, when I didn’t know everything that was going on.”

She was elated when she discovered she had been selected and when she realised other family members had all been successful too, “it became extremely exciting, and I was a little bit overwhelmed”.

There was a moment of gratitude as well.

“I’ve had a good relationship with the coaches, and I was very open about what my goal was and told them and they said, Yep, we’re going to work with that.

“So, for me, a big piece of it was just gratitude for how much that had helped me in my training to get me to where I needed to be with my technique and my strength in the boat – just backing me really.”

While the Bay of Plenty-based squad members have continued to train in Tauranga Harbour, they have also joined with Waikato paddlers to train at Lake Karapiro to try to replicate the conditions at the worlds that will be held on fresh water.

The world championships begin on July 14 in Brandenburg an der Havel in Germany.